Fang's Bites

3rd Annual Fang’s Bites MLB TV Awards

Another baseball season over and it’s time for another edition of the Fang’s Bites MLB TV Awards. You can see previous editions here and here.

As usual, we’ll deal with the national TV partners, ESPN, Fox, MLB Network and TBS. This is a listing of the Best and Worst, it’s not a competition, so please, no betting.

We’ll do the Best and finish with the Worst.

The Vin Scully Award For Best Play-by-Play: Sean McDonough, ESPN. Glad to see Sean calling baseball on a national level once again. It seemed after he was let go by NESN after the 2004 season, he was in exile. But this year, ESPN brought him back to call the sport he loves for Monday Night Baseball and we the public were the beneficiaries. If ESPN ever gets the MLB Postseason back, it would behoove the network to give him an assignment. One of the best all-around announcers, Sean did a very good job working on baseball this season.

Honorable mentions: Dan Shulman, ESPN; Brian Anderson, TBS

Best Game Analyst: John Smoltz, MLB Network/TBS. John has fast become the best game analyst in just two seasons on TV. He can pick up trends, predict home runs and know when a pitcher is losing it. I would love to have John work the World Series to replace Tim McCarver (more on him later). Smoltz works well with Matt Vasgersian on MLB Network and worked off Ron Darling during the MLB Postseason on TBS brilliantly. I’d love to see John get more of a national showcase during the regular season.

Honorable Mentions: Ron Darling, TBS; Orel Hershiser, ESPN.

Best Debut: A.J. Pierzynski, Fox. The catcher for the Chicago White Sox got the opportunity to work on TV during the American League Championship Series and World Series for Fox. I was quite impressed with his work and his candor. The man has a future in TV when he retires.

Honorable Mention: Terry Francona, Fox during the ALCS; Jamie Maggio on TBS’ MLB Postseason coverage.

Best Studio Show: MLB Tonight, MLB Network. Let’s face it, MLB Network is the Network of Record for baseball and MLB Tonight is the signature show. Whenever there’s a big moment in baseball, MLB Tonight will cut-in and show it live. The program is produced well, the analysts are always on top of the action and you know that the show will air a highlight or a live cut-in when it’s most needed. The hosts could be better, but with Brian Kenny hired by MLB Network, you’ll probably see him on the anchor desk extensively in 2012.

Honorable Mention: Baseball Tonight, ESPN.

Best Studio Host: Matt Winer, TBS. In his second year on the desk for TBS whether it be for the All-Star Game Selection or during the MLB Postseason, Matt is very smooth. Hired originally by Turner Sports to be the main host on NBA TV, Matt has done work with the NBA on TNT, NCAA Tournament for TBS and was given the main host assignment for MLB on TBS last season. He’s become one of the best studio hosts on sports television and he has learned to distribute the rock to his analysts very well. I’m quite impressed with his work this season.

Honorable Mentions: Karl Ravech, ESPN; Matt Vasgersian, Matt Yallof, MLB Network.

Best Studio Analyst: Harold Reynolds, MLB Network. H.R. wins the award outright after being given the award in a tie with Mitch Williams in 2009. Harold is very comfortable working in the studio and being the main guy on MLB Tonight. He’s quite good. While he won’t go out of his way to criticize, he will come down on a player when it’s necessary. Harold has won Emmy Awards for good reason. He’s the best studio analyst in the sport.

Honorable Mentions: Dennis Eckersley, TBS; Mitch Williams, MLB Network.

Best Game Coverage: MLB on Fox. The World Series proved that the Fox crew does a great job with game production. Using 30 cameras, Fox was right on top of replays, showing the proper angles of controversial calls and not overdoing it on the strike zone never showing it live. We can pick on Fox’s announcing crew, but the production is top-notch every season. My only problem is the crowd cutaways as I’m not a fan of showing fans wringing their hands on every pitch, but that’s me. Overall, Fox gets an A for its production.

Honorable Mention: ESPN.

Most Valuable Network: Fox. Not for a lack of trying, Fox does its best to promote baseball. The ratings in the regular season were down again and the American League Championship Series did not do well, but Fox was finally rewarded with a thrilling World Series and the most watched Fall Classic contest in Game 7 dating back to 2004.

Best Move: MLB Network hiring Brian Kenny and Sam Ryan. I’m not a big fan of Brian Kenny as he can be abrasive, but he loves baseball and is a very good studio host. Sam Ryan is an excellent reporter and I’m looking forward to seeing her extensively on MLB Network next season.

Worst Play-by-Play: Yes, Joe Buck, Fox. He seems to be turning the tide with sports media observers with his plagiarized use of his father’s home run call from the 1991 World Series, but to be honest, I still think it was a bad job by him. There are times when he calls games as if he’s at a wake. While this season, he had to overcome a virus that almost took his voice, it still did not help him improve as an announcer. I feel Buck is regressing, not improving. One more year and Buck can retire this award.

Worst Game Analyst: Tim McCarver, Fox. Whether it be miscounting how many letters there are in the word, “strike” or overanalyzing situations, McCarver is verbose and does not allow a game to breathe. I feel the game has passed Tim by. It’s time for him to go.

Worst Studio Show: Intentional Talk, MLB Network. This show is an abortion. Co-hosted by Chris Rose and Kevin Millar, this show makes no sense. Rose is a bad host. Millar is constantly yelling. Why is this show even on the air? And why did MLB Network allow this to continue during the offsesason? Intentional Talk needs to be put to sleep and immediately. It is one of the worst shows in the history of sports television.

Worst Studio Host: Chris Rose, MLB Network/Fox. How this man hosts for two networks is beyond me. He’s gone from being on the Best Damn Sports Show, Period to somehow hosting MLB on Fox and Intentional Talk. Chris Rose is an enigma. And his postgame questions during the American League Championship Series were mind boggling.

Worst Studio Analyst: Kevin Millar, MLB Network. He has apparently subscribes to the Michael Irvin Style of Broadcasting which means yelling, yelling and more yelling. Why does he have to yell? Why is he yelling? Does Millar yell because he thinks yelling is funny? Does he feel he has to yell to get his point across? After watching him, I need to take 10 Tylenols to get rid of my tension headaches. I love what Millar did with the 2004 Red Sox. I hate him on TV.

Worst Way To End A Career: Dan McLaughlin, Fox Sports Midwest. Dan McLaughlin, the TV voice of the St. Louis Cardinals had some pretty good gigs. Not only was he the main announcer for the Cardinals, he also was calling college basketball games on ESPN. However, after being arrested not once, but twice on DUI charges over a span of 13 months, McLaughlin lost his jobs calling Missouri basketball and Missouri Valley Conference games. His future with Fox Sports Midwest remains in doubt and he wasn’t seen doing the last two weeks of Cardinals games. Here’s hoping Dan gets the help he needs so he can get back on the straight and narrow.

And that will conclude this year’s edition of the MLB TV Awards.

Five Women Who Can Make Me Stop Flipping The Remote — 2011

Time to bring the annual Hot Chicks Post back again. The original post in 2007 had what can be considered a Mount Rushmore of Women on TV. In 2008, we had another strong list featuring Fang’s Bites fave Charissa Thompson and Heidi Watney. The 2009 list had Olivia Munn, Trenni Kusnierek and NFL Network’s Lindsay Soto. And last year had Trenni, Michelle Beadle and Kate Walsh.

This year, we have a new list. I like the women we have for 2011.

5. Jaime Maggio — CBS/Turner Sports

Had her coming out party during the NCAA Tournament this year on CBS and Turner Sports. She’s also working for Turner in the League Division Series. We certainly welcome more national assignments for Jaime. She’s currently working full-time with KCAL-TV in Los Angeles. Does a great job reporting on the sidelines and would love to see Jaime more in 2012.

4. Erin Sharoni — CNBC SportsBiz: Game On!

In just four shows of the new series hosted by Darren Rovell, Erin hits this list. Previously a sideline reporter for St. John’s basketball on RedStormSports.com, Erin has made quite the impression on viewers to NBC’s new sports business show on Versus. I’m quite impressed with her on-air style and her rapport with Darren. I was told that Darren wanted to get someone new and fresh for his show and he certainly did that. I predict big things for Erin down the road.

3. Jen Royle — 105.7 The Fan, Baltimore

Ok, technically Jen is not on TV right now, but she was earlier this year on MASN. She left the regional sports network before this baseball season, so in the range from last year to this year’s list, she qualifies as having been on TV. As she hosted an Orioles pregame show on 105.7 FM The Fan this season and is currently covering the Ravens, Jen is also a candidate to return to her native Boston possibly on NESN and perhaps one of the sports radio stations. New England would certainly welcome her back with open arms. And if NESN wants to bring her in to possibly replace Heidi Watney on Red Sox broadcasts (more on that in another post down the road), that would be welcomed too!

2. Tina Cervasio, MSG Network

Tina returns to the list after being on the original list in 2007. After leaving NESN in 2008, she joined MSG Network where she’s the reporter for both the Knicks of the NBA and the Red Bulls of MLS. Tina is also doing work for CBSSports.com on college football. Tina has been anchoring sports at WNYW-TV and sister station, WWOR-TV. I’ve heard rumors that Tina is about to get another gig. I don’t know where it is, but if it’s national, it’s well deserved. And Tina is lovelier than ever having seen her at Blogs with Balls 4 this year.

And here’s a pic of our #2 and #3 picks together. This comes courtesy of Jen so I thank her for giving me permission to post this.

Very lovely pic of Jen and Tina together.

1. Maggie Q — Nikita

Last year, we had our first Asian representation with Betty Nguyen of CBS News. This year, it’s Maggie Q of The CW’s Nikita. Trained in Hong Kong by Jackie Chan to become an action star, Q had a rather meteoric rise and now is the star of her own series. Not only is Maggie gorgeous, but she can also kick your ass. I respect that. In addition, she’s a strict vegetarian and a member of PETA. I’m glad in the 5th edition of this list that an Asian sister is finally number one.

And that will conclude the list for this year. Back again next year.